the tale of us and all that is

Where Pain Is

Last week a massive earthquake destroyed Port Au Prince, Haiti, and this morning another large aftershock shook the already devastated city. With estimates of 200,000 dead and over 1 million left homeless, the disaster commanded the world’s attention and has generated a lot of coverage. A lot of news coverage in turn generates a lot of conversation and a lot of people weighing in. I don’t intend to weigh in here. I weigh in on problems at my job, on bad tv commercials, on traffic congestion in Atlanta. On something as tragic and devastating as this Haiti disaster, I don’t weigh in.

It takes several degrees of removal, a dissociating oneself from this disaster to offer up gutless philosophy about this sort of thing. “The Problem of Evil” as addressed in philosophy and apologetics will always be there and has plenty of hypotheticals and examples from the past to keep it fueled. For now, bodies are still being pulled from rubble. Beware the urge to wrap yourself in the insulating blankets of the “What kind of God…?” philosophies, finger-pointing politics, or simplistic answer-giving apologetics.

For now let’s just let the images being broadcast to us make our hearts heavy and our tongues speechless. Take what should be impossible to articulate and pray it. There’s a Spirit who turns groans into prayer and makes God present where pain is. Then give something to help, and tangibly connect yourself. That’s how we should respond – with bent knees, outstretched hands, and shut mouths.

Please give something — it’s needed so desperately. Here are links to reliable organizations that can put money to use effectively and quickly.